Garneau is the Liberal industry policy critic, a former astronaut who says
he is familiar with procurement policy from his career in the Canadian navy. He
served as commander of a naval engineering unit.

“Peter MacKay’s procurement process is to ask the generals what toy they
want most and get them that one,” Garneau said.

He was responding to MacKay blasting the Liberals for playing politics on
the backs of the military by opposing the government’s plan to spend $16
billion on the purchase and maintenance of 65 F-35 Lockheed-Martin fighter jets
to replace the aging CF-18 fighter fleet.

“He’s just being political here, that is all he is,” said Garneau, a
Montreal MP. “He’s political 24 hours a day. Unfortunately, he’s a lightweight
when it comes to defence, actually knowing the guts of his job, which is to be
responsible for billions of dollars of acquisition every year.”

The Liberal call for a competition is no political gimmick, Garneau said.
The Liberals stand by their insistence on a competition among aircraft
manufacturers to find the best plane for the best price and industrial benefits
to replace the CF-18s. Representatives of two manufacturers, Boeing and
Dassault, told a House of Commons committee Thursday their planes, the Super
Hornet and the Rafale respectively, can fulfil Canada’s requirements.

Garneau said the F-35 is a stealth aircraft that is not necessary for its
main role of protecting Canadian airspace; the F-35 is slower than the CF-18s;
and the F-35 is still in development while Canada could have the “peace of
mind” of buying an aircraft that is already being produced.

“There are going to be development delays and cost overruns,” he added,
citing reports from U.S. authorities this week. “This is an airplane that is
not yet out of its test phase. This plane is not out of the woods.”

He disputed MacKay’s suggestion that a competition would cause a gap in
fighter capability as the CF-18s are retired before a new plane is delivered.
There are nine years left, Garneau said, citing the government’s investment of
$2.6 billion to extend the CF-18 lifespan for a decade.

Garneau responded to MacKay’s assertion that the Liberals are ripping a page
out of their playbook for the 1993 election campaign, after which former
Liberal prime minister Jean Chretien cancelled a $5-billion EH-101 helicopter
order placed by the defeated Progressive Conservative government.

“The reason we did it was because we were dealing with a $42-billion
deficit and we had to make very difficult decisions,” said Garneau.

“But guess what?” he added. The helicopter contract cancellation was a
policy supported by the then official opposition, which was led by Preston
Manning and his policy adviser, Stephen Harper, now prime minister.

Normal procurement procedures have not taken place in their normal sequence
in the case of the F-35s, he said.

The normal procurement process is to lay out the mission for a new aircraft,
produce a statement of technical requirements and hold a competition to see who
can meet the requirements and provide the best price and guaranteed benefits to
aerospace and other industries in Canada.

As for MacKay’s comment that the F-35s may be an election issue, Garneau
said, “we’re duking it out right now.”